On 23 August 1914, the British met the Germans in Mons, and on 11
November 1918, with substantial involvement of the Canadians, they liberated
the city after 50 months of occupation.
The Battle of Mons was the first major battle of World War One.
Fought on the last day of World War I, in which Canadian forces captured the
Belgian town of Mons, liberating an area that had been under German occupation
since 1914.
Mons was a regional centre for coal mining, and its resources had been used
throughout the war to fuel Germany’s war effort.
The Battle of Mons has
attained an almost mythic status. Mons gained a myth, a miraculous tale that
the Angels of Mons—angelic warriors, had saved the British Army by halting the
German troops.
Sound and light show played out on the facade of the Hôtel de Ville of Mons by DIRTYMONITOR using projection-mapping technology (26 October-11 November 2018, 7 pm and 9 pm, for 25 minutes in FR/EN). It traced the history of Canadian expeditionary troops in Europe, up to the liberation of Mons, narrated through the lens of the sacrificed life of the soldier George Price.
Sound and light show played out on the facade of the Hôtel de Ville of Mons by DIRTYMONITOR using projection-mapping technology (26 October-11 November 2018, 7 pm and 9 pm, for 25 minutes in FR/EN). It traced the history of Canadian expeditionary troops in Europe, up to the liberation of Mons, narrated through the lens of the sacrificed life of the soldier George Price.
As the bells toll at the 11th hour of the 11th day of
the 11th month, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.
We joined The Black
Watch parade at 11 am and shivering cold in rainy Mons, back to the Grand Place
in the evening for the commemorative ceremony attended by Prince Laurent.
One hundred years on, with
conflict still raging in the world, remembrance of earlier wartime human
sacrifice continues to resonate.